Stingray Marine Solutions CEO John Arne Breivik has watched Norway’s aquaculture industry grow from simply being an extra revenue stream for livestock farmers to an industry worth around NOK 75 billion (USD 7.4 billion, EUR 6.4 billion) annually.
The rapid growth of the country’s aquaculture sector brought along equally swift advancements in technology to meet its shifting needs, and from a young age, Breivik became fascinated in the technological developments taking place in both the wild-catch and aquaculture sectors, as well as other industries across the world.
“I grew up on a farm on the northwest coast of Norway where we were doing both livestock and fishing,” Breivik told SeafoodSource. “My two grandfathers would take me out to sea, so I grew up around the shipyards, where I saw a lot of innovation in underwater technology like pipe scanners. I have always been interested in technology; I’ve had a computer since 1981 and had the first mobile phone when it came along.”
Combining his passion for technology with his deep understanding of the pain points of seafood industry stakeholders, Breivik co-founded Oslo-based Stingray in 2010, aiming to provide Norway’s aquaculturists with an innovative solution to one of their biggest biological challenges: sea lice.
Stingray offers a delousing laser system for salmon and trout operations, and soon after the company’s founding, Breivik began selling the industry on using his system to take a proactive approach toward controlling sea lice, instead of reacting when an outbreak occurs...
